1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image reading apparatus and a control method thereof, and particularly to an image forming apparatus having a file storage function, an image reading apparatus and a control method thereof.
2. Related Art
Recently, an image forming apparatus such as a digital compound machine (Multi-Function Peripheral) or an image reading apparatus such as a scanner apparatus is often constructed such that a large capacity storage apparatus such as, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is incorporated and an image file of a read original document can be stored in this storage apparatus.
The image file stored in the HDD or the like is read from the HDD or the like and can be printed as required, or can be captured in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC).
In order to access a specific image file stored in the HDD or the like, the image file is required to be stored after certain identification information, for example, a specific file name is attached thereto at the time of storage.
In the related art image forming apparatus or image reading apparatus, two methods are generally adopted as methods of creating file names in the case where a storage operation to the HDD or the like is performed. One of them is a method of automatically creating a file name, and at the time of storage of a file, the file name is automatically created based on a date and a sequence number.
The other method is a method of storage in which a user attaches the file name individually, that is, the method in which the user inputs characters from an operation panel or the like to set an arbitrary file name at each time of storage.
In the method of automatically creating the file name, although the operation burden at the time of storage is low, in the case where an access is made after the storage, it is hard to find the file name that was automatically created based on the date and the sequence number. Especially, in an environment in which many users store many original documents, since the number of files stored in the HDD or the like becomes enormous, it becomes difficult to identify the file names, and there occurs a case where it takes much time to access a desired file.
On the other hand, in the method in which the user sets the file name individually, although accessibility to files is high since identification becomes easy by the file name, it is necessary to input the file name at each time of storage of the file, which requires much labor.